Doubt In My Mind
by MonadoPurge
Summary: After Yang Xiao Long's Vytal Festival Tournament match, Ruby's mind starts to flood with thoughts. Does she still deserve to be team leader? What would her mother do? How could she doubt her own sister like this? Her emotions start to take hold of her, and only one certain cold heiress can fix this. [Slight AU, Slight White Rose.]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Obviously, I do not own RWBY, it belongs to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum.**

 **I want to state that this is the first fanfiction I've ever made and posted. But this idea just popped into my head suddenly and I knew I couldn't just leave it be. I'm more of a Bumbleby shipper than a White Rose shipper, but I still love this pair. Usually when I attempt to write something, it's more action-based with a large plot, but I wanted to try my best to focus on one thing, mainly how Ruby feels about Summer having passed away, but Raven still being alive, and being made to doubt Yang. It was kind of a struggle as I'm not too used to very emotional scenes, but Ruby's feelings of sadness kind of came as a large flood of ideas. All in all, I think the entire thing came out really well.**

 **At the time I've uploaded the first chapter, this entire story is completely written, so I'll have regular uploads of once every three days.**

 **I want to quickly thank everyone whose stories gave me inspiration to write for this fandom. Notably JustAnotherGuy04 and LizInABlizzard.**

 **I have to say this is a slight bit of an AU as this takes place between Yang's Vytal Festival Tournament match and the Grimm attack at Beacon, as there's a night in-between these events where this takes place.**

 **Of course, Spoilers for RWBY Volume 3 are ahead. Proceed at your own risk, and of course, enjoy!**

* * *

 _Ruby Rose was not okay._

Her mind was a storm of anger and hatred.

Everything had been taken away from her. Her mother had died, her father was far away back at home in Patch, one of her best friends had just been killed by another, and her sister had been taken into custody for assault.

How did she not know Cinder had been up to something? It was so obvious, she thought. Everything that her, Emerald, and Mercury did was suspicious, yet she was too oblivious to ever notice it.

She couldn't take it anymore.

Changing her sleep positions did nothing. Everything Yang tried to get her to sleep when they were kids was useless. After hours of trying to sleep, she leapt off her bed. She had to get this anger out of her.

She did the only thing she could think of in a blind fit of rage and drove her fist into the walls of the team's dorm. It had hurt, but it felt a bit better after flushing some of the anger out of her system.

Ruby wasn't one to "punch out" her feelings. She always thought Yang would be the one to do that, but there she found herself, sending punch after punch against the wall of her team's dormitory.

And then she realized something. This dorm was occupied by her entire team, and their leader was destroying it. Ruby was better than this. What would her parents say to this? What would Yang say? This stupid tournament practically drove her team apart, and here she was, only separating them further. She stopped and looked at the two empty beds on the other side of the dorm. Blake's had been empty for a few hours, after she left with Sun and Neptune, who were hoping to cheer her up after the events of Yang's singles match. Yang's bed, however, had been empty the entire time since the match. The blonde had been taken away from her team after everyone had seen her break the leg of her now helpless tournament opponent.

Half of her team was gone, and the one in charge had no idea what to do. Why was she even the leader of her team? She was young and immature, she didn't pay attention in class, and never thought she was the strongest in combat. Ruby didn't deserve to be the leader of her team, maybe what Weiss said at the beginning of the year was true. She wasn't as good as her mother, her faults were too large. She didn't have a cool or useful semblance like her teammates, and she couldn't even fight without her trusty sweetheart, Crescent Rose. Too many times she had been disarmed and was forced to run. At least the others could fight disarmed. Weiss could use her glyphs, Blake had her shadow clone semblance, allowing her to use dust to counter attack with clones, and Yang became more of a powerhouse the more damage she took. But what could Ruby do? All she could do was run. Even with what Blake said about her only running away and leaving behind a clone, she could at least use that clone to confuse her enemy and fight back. Tears rolled down Ruby's face and she threw another punch towards the wall. She barely even dented it.

She wasn't even capable of fighting without her weapon, she couldn't even punch with force.

Even without the ability to shoot bullets from Ember Celica, Yang was still much stronger than Ruby, physically and emotionally. Yang would blast a hole through the wall without effort if she was in the same position, but she'd never find herself in that position. Ruby had never seen her older sister cry. Sure, she had been mad a few times, but she always dealt with it well. Ruby couldn't do that. She let her stupid problems take control of her emotions. Yang never beat herself up over the death of Summer Rose, she was always there for Ruby, helping the younger sister pull through.

The more she thought, the more of an absolute mess of emotions she became. Her mother was the leader of her combat team back when they used to take missions. Team STRQ was one to be feared, her Uncle Qrow had always told her great stories of his teammate's adventures.

But that's all they were now. Stories. Team STRQ was gone, their leader was dead, and one of their members had left and never came back.

But Yang's mother wasn't dead. She knew Raven Branwen was still alive. Yang hadn't lost everything. She still had her family, she still had lots of friends. The biggest problem she had was a big misunderstanding over some stupid kid's broken bone.

"It's not fair!" Ruby yelled, punching again, more and more tears forming, flowing down her face. She sniffled, before grabbing her cape and wiping her tears away, just like she would when she was younger. She told herself she wouldn't cry years ago, and especially after transferring from Signal Academy to Beacon. But here she was. Stupid, young, fifteen-year-old Ruby Rose, crying into the cape from her mother.

"Ruby, what's wrong?"

Ruby looked up to see her partner, dressed in a familiar nightgown, wrapping her arms around the girl, ice-blue eyes staring into her own silver ones.

"Weiss! You're awake!" She quickly glanced to the bed she'd been occupied, now empty with the sheets uncharacteristically messy. But Ruby panicked. "I... uhhhh... I can't talk to you, you don't understand!" The girl pushed her teammate away, and practically leaping off her feet, activated her semblance and bolted out the door and down the hall, leaving only a flurry of rose petals behind.

Weiss sighed, her face shifting from a comforting smile to a worried, concerned frown. But she knew what she had to do. Grabbing her rapier, Myrtenaster, she ran out the door after her partner, leaving the dorm empty.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: First of all, I'm so _so_ sorry for updating a day late. Unfortunately my internet was down for quite a while and I wasn't able to. So you get this update now and probably the next one a day early. And I'll sound like a broken record by saying this, but thank you so much for taking interest in this! Apparently we're up to over 90 views in, like, four days, that's 90 more than I thought I'd get, I appreciate it so much!**

 **Okay, so this chapter's a lot smaller than the first and the third, but it felt really awkward to put this together with either one, so I just went with making this its own separate chapter and trying my best to lengthen it without just adding a lot of empty words. This was originally meant to just be a one-shot without Ruby running out of the dorm, and just having Weiss talk to her there, but I decided against it because I just wanted to write more, and it ended up like this because of that. I hope that's fine and it's still enjoyable.**

 **I tried my best to write in Ozpin the best I could, but I'm still not sure if I did too great with him.**

 **Next upload will be the final chapter, and it'll be a good final chapter that isn't very short like this one. Enjoy!**

* * *

 _Weiss doesn't know what it's like_ , Ruby thought, sitting down at a fountain in the school courtyard. _Sure, she may have one or two bad stories about her dad, but her sister's… perfect._

Ruby shook her head. Her emotions really were messing with her. Did she just unintentionally insult her own sister? She shook her head. At least the shock of seeing Weiss had knocked her out of crying.

Weiss ran through the halls of Beacon Academy, searching everywhere she could for her partner, attempting to yell her name whenever she was sure no one was around to catch her out of her dorm late at night.

Weiss shook her head. Finding Ruby was more important than risking getting caught. Running further down the halls, she opened doors to classrooms frantically and looked around.

The thought of Weiss being alone wouldn't usually shake her, but with her team's leader in such a bad state, and her two other teammates either off somewhere unknown or being locked up, she'd be in a really bad situation if any Grimm happened to show up, especially with the large show of sadness and doubt from everyone since the tournament.

"Ruby! Where are you?!" She continued, coming to a stop when she heard footsteps.

"Miss Schnee? What are you doing up at this time?"

Weiss turned around, shock filling her face.

"Professor Ozpin! I..." Weiss sighed. "I was looking for Ruby, she ran off a few minutes ago." Weiss looked down in guilt, hoping her concern for her partner was a decent excuse for not following the rules regarding curfews.

Ozpin smiled, walking closer to the girl. "Why did she run off?"

Weiss looked back up. "I... don't know. She was crying, and... well, she said something about not being able to talk to me and me not understanding."

Ozpin nodded in response. "That does seem like a problem. But I do remember seeing Miss Rose run out to the courtyard. Perhaps she's still there."

"Thanks, Professor Ozpin. I'll check there." Weiss smiled, and begun to walk off.

"Miss Schnee, wait a second."

Weiss froze in shock, before slowly turning around, dropping her smile. "W-What is it?"

Ozpin smiled at her. "Please, take good care of her. And Yang. They both seem to need it. I trust you and Miss Belladonna with their well-being."

Weiss nodded, the smile once again forming on her lips. "Your trust isn't misplaced, Professor. I'll do my best."

Ozpin nodded once again. "Good to hear. Good luck with your search." And the two went their separate ways, Weiss rushing to the courtyard, and Ozpin returning to his office.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This chapter was probably the hardest to write and come up with ideas for, looking back on it, I'm still not sure if I did the best job or what I could have improved on, that's half the reason I'm still uploading this.**

 **This story's still kind of open to be added to, so I may just open it back up again if I can come up with any good ideas. I feel like White Rose as a pairing is really open to anything.**

 **Everything considered, I'm happy I wrote this fic, even if I just wrote it super quickly in the span of about 3 hours, but I'm not entirely sure that shows, I think I did a good job, and I really hope that you enjoyed this. Now I can say I did something great during my semester break, and hopefully this is a good start to getting more motivation to write!**

 **Thanks for reading, and enjoy (for now) this last chapter!**

* * *

Weiss opened the front doors to the school, walking out into the courtyard, the wind blowing into her face.

Maybe it would have been smarter to wear warmer clothing, she thought. But she shook her head. Another thing that wasn't worth worrying over until she found her partner.

But she wasn't too hard to find.

Weiss had thought Ruby would have found a super-secret place to hide, but the girl was just sitting at one of the fountains, her toes dipped into the water, shoes set aside next to her lap.

Ruby turned around, notified by the rather heavy sounds of the doors.

"Weiss, why'd you go after me?" Ruby looked up at her partner, wiping the rest of her tears away with her cape.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay." Weiss sat down next to her, taking off her own shoes and placing her feet in the water next to her partner's.

"Yeah, I think I'm fine." Ruby nodded, looking back to the middle of the fountain.

Weiss placed one of her hands over one of her Ruby's, but it was quickly pushed off as the girl flinched, and held her hand up to her chest, her hand a bright red.

"Ruby, that doesn't seem like you're doing fine. What were you doing back at the dorm? Why were you crying?"

Ruby sighed. There was no way to get out of this. She took a long breath in, and began to explain.

"I can't believe that happened to Yang, she wouldn't hurt someone like that!"

Weiss nodded. She didn't know Yang as well as Ruby did, but she did know she would trust her sister if she was put in this position.

"And now that Yang's gone... I don't have anyone left... I don't have anything. Penny's gone, Yang is gone, even Blake didn't believe Yang!" Ruby began to cry again.

Weiss placed her hand on Ruby's shoulder and pulled the younger girl towards her.

"What about your parents? You have them, don't you? Your dad seems really nice." Weiss began. "You haven't lost everything."

Ruby shook her head. "No, you don't understand!" She gripped her cape harder in her hands.

Weiss slowly rubbed the younger girl's shoulder. "Please, help me understand, then."

Ruby's crying only picked up. "My... My mom's gone..."

Weiss pulled her team's leader into a hug, patting her back. "I'm... I'm really sorry for your loss... and Yang's too."

Ruby shook her head. "N-No, things are different with Yang..."

If Weiss wasn't shocked before, she sure was now. "Wait, what do you mean?"

Ruby sniffled. "Our dad takes care of us, but... but our mothers are gone. But Yang's is still alive..."

Weiss didn't know what to say. "Ruby, I-"

Ruby cut her off. "It's okay, I know you can't relate." Her crying seemed to have gotten better, at least.

Weiss shook her head. "No, it's not that. I understand that. Ruby, my mom is gone too."

Ruby looked up at her teammate. "But you're... you're perfect! You're Weiss Schnee! You're beautiful, and you're rich, and you're... you're so cool you just turn down Jaune without a second thought!" Never once did she consider the Ice Queen to ever have gone through anything like this.

Weiss couldn't help but giggle at the last part. But there was something more important. "Ruby, there's more to it than that. Everyone has secrets no one knows about. I thought Blake was the only one until now."

Ruby sniffled once again, and laid her head on her partner's shoulder. "Weiss... I'm sorry I thought you wouldn't understand..."

Weiss shook her head. "It's okay. I never told anyone, too. That's what I thought, that no one would understand. And I'm sure that's what Blake thought as well. I forgive you."

The two looked at each other and smiled, before Ruby somewhat awkwardly pulled her arms around her partner's neck and attempted to pull her into a hug. Weiss bit her tongue to avoid laughing at the awkwardness of the situation and wrapped her arms around the younger girl.

And there the two were, out in the cold courtyard, feet dipped in the fountain, in their sleepwear. Surely at least one of them would end up sick.

After a while, Weiss pulled them apart. "C'mon, let's get back to the dorm before Blake comes back. You can sleep in my bed if you want."

Ruby nodded, smiling, and the two got up, put their shoes back on, and walked back to their dorm, their hands held, fingers interlocked, and smiles on their faces.

 _And Ruby Rose couldn't have been happier._

* * *

 **I want to take this moment to thank everyone who read what I wrote. At the time of writing this final note, this story is currently at 514 views. That's an incredible jump in just three days, and I wasn't expecting anything near it. I want to especially thank those of you who followed, favourited, or wrote a review for this story, it's incredible to know that something I wrote is something that was enjoyed by this many people.**

 **I want to know what those of you who read and enjoyed the story think should happen next, or what you'd like to see more of, either for a continuation of this current fic, or for an entirely new one. If I can't think of ideas, I want to ask those of you who wish to see something for them, and for me to be able to make what you want to read a reality.**

 **Once again, I really hope you enjoyed this, because while I didn't spend all that much time on this, it's probably one of the things I've been the most motivated for in a while.**


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